Trump Resort in Ireland Gets Approval for Sea Walls

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Grass bales intended to prevent erosion, in place last month at the Trump resort in Doonbeg, Ireland.CreditCreditPaulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times

By Ed O’Loughlin

Dec. 21, 2017

DUBLIN — An Irish county council on Thursday gave a golf resort owned by President Trump approval to build two sea walls, a reduced version of an earlier plan but one that still generated opposition from environmentalists.

Trump International Golf Links, which owns the resort at Doonbeg, County Clare, intends to build a line of two low, concealed sea walls, 2,000 feet long and 840 feet long, on the landward side of a public beach to prevent storm waters from eroding three holes of the course.

A previous application for a continuous 1.7-mile-long structure was withdrawn last year. Thursday’s decision by the Clare County Council can be appealed to the national planning authority.

The resort’s new plan was supported by some local residents, who said they hoped that Mr. Trump would follow up on plans to invest millions in the property.

“We’ve been campaigning for 25 years to bring investment to our community,” said Rita McInerney, a local businesswoman. “There is a not a lot of opportunity for employment here. They already employ 250 people there in the summer, and there’ll be more if they feel they can expand it. We’ll continue to work with the owners, whoever they are.”

Records show that Mr. Trump paid 8.7 million euros for the resort at an auction in 2014. It had originally opened in 2002, having cost €28 million to build.

Environmentalists said the new coastal walls would damage a popular public beach and vulnerable dunes and heath. Some residents also objected, saying the walls would alter tidal flows and divert storm surges into their own properties.

The leader of the Irish Green Party, Eamon Ryan, who objected to the application, said the party was disappointed in the decision and would consider filing an appeal.

“The best advice we had was that it would be better to move the golf holes farther inland,” he said, “where there’s room for them, rather than disrupt the beach.”

Mr. Ryan said that he did not believe Mr. Trump’s ownership had influenced the council members, but that “they wouldn’t be human beings if they weren’t sensitive to the fact that the golf course in question is owned by the president of the United States.”

The earlier application had included references to climate change and the threat of global warming, which Mr. Trump had previously described as a hoax, in its case for building the wall. The new application did not mention global warming.

The general manager of the resort, Joe Russell, said Trump Doonbeg was pleased with the decision and had ambitious plans to expand its facilities.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Walls Are Approved (In Ireland). Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe